thewaterbird

Today, after drinking a cup of Jasmine green tea, I re-steeped the leaves along with a large helping of kiwi berry. I cold-steeped it for a few hours and am happy to report it made a lovely iced tea! The green tea helped give the tea more body – something that was definitely lacking before. The flavor, however, came mostly from the fruit pieces. The tea was a beautiful dark pink/red color. Yum!

finally brewed up a cup today. The sample has been tempting me for awhile, but today was the day!

It’s a very nice honeybush… it has the flavor I expect, but also an unknown fruityness to it. Unfortunately, I got occupied, and my cup cooled, but it’s still good. Will do a second steep!

This box has been in my cupboard forever. I got it in a set with some other one I really wanted, and I just never got around to making this. Since I was already boiling water to steep some kiwi berry for iced tea, and it was 10pm, I figured ‘what the heck!’.

It is pretty standard chamomile tea, but when I thought about it I have to say, I am impressed. I am not sure I can much distinguish between this tea and my loose leaf mint chamomile. It’s thick and flavorful and smells nice. The only thing I might say about this one is that it is leaving a ‘thing’ in the back of my throat. What is that?

I am super excited about this tea! I’m writing this as I go…
It arrived yesterday with my kiwi berry tea, and unfortunately for it, the delicate smell was overpowered by the tisane. I’ve been desperate to get it alone! Looking at the bag, the leaves are quite small, and there are not a whole lot of jasmine flowers in there.
Tea Oh! teas do not come with steeping instructions. They recommend using steep.it
So, I boiled the water, and let it cool for about 7 minutes and then steeped a small teaspoon in a cup of water for just over 1 minute. This seems short? But what do I know! This is my first time steeping Japanese green tea.
There is a slight grassy smell, but not fresh grass. It’s like dry grass, but not hay. Eesh. I can definitely smell the sweet flowery jasmine. I can barely wait for it cool down!
Ah, it tastes almost exactly as it smells, except there is no noticeable grassiness. It is quite floral, but not too much for my tastes. It is smooth like a white tea, but heavier, and there is a little after-twinge on the tongue. Lovely!

Received my order yesterday, and immediately upon opening the envelope I could smell this tea. It smells like Fruitopia juice, so strong and sweet! I set some to cold steep immediately.

I used 1 tea ball full for 1 liter of water. The colour was beautiful pink, but quite pale. I filled my water bottle this morning with it, and have been drinking it since. The flavor is mild, but definitely tastes of kiwi and strawberries, I believe. It’s not grossly fruity, and still reminds me a lot of Fruitopia, without the overwhelming sweetness. It’s very good, I just need to bulk up tea to water ratio. I have more steeping at home as we speak. Yum.

I will hold off on rating this tea until I do it justice.

Had this again today. Steeped for 10 minutes in 96ish water + vanilla soy. I found it weak. So I boiled more water, topped off the cup and steeped another 10 minutes. It still was not overly satisfying. Perhaps I was too heavy on the milk?

This tea is so so good! I’ve bumped up the rating. But, I’m having a hard time describing it…
It smells somewhat of grass or hay, but the taste is very subtle. I am not sure I can really describe the taste, but I really like the mouthfeel. It’s slightly thick, but not in a bad way. In fact, since I’ve started drinking more green/white/oolong teas, my old favorite herbals seem so watery. I can’t say much for color, as I can’t really tell in my mug, but it’s not cloudy.

This was just a sample, and I will be sorely disappointed when it is all gone. I think I’ve only got one or two cups left.

I like this tea… it’s a warming, comforting tea. It tastes purely like cinnamon hearts, so I wouldn’t say it’s complex, and I definitely am not aware of any carob, cardamom, pepper, etc. It fits the bill sometimes, but I doubt I will buy another box.

I should also note, I usually steep it a lot longer… I can definitely notice a difference. It’s a bit “weak”.

Cold steeped this tea overnight as a test.
DANG it is good! I found it quite medicinal as hot tea, but as iced tea it is minty licorice-y freshness. It tastes more sweet this way and the fennel isn’t overpowering. I filled my water bottle with it and I am trying to sip it slowly so it’s not gone too soon. I started a second batch immediately. I have to raise the rating now!

Made some iced, and mixed some chamomile-mint in for fun. It wasn’t a very good combination. Or rather, this green tea is just not good. I have to decrease the rating. Can someone tell me, does green tea have an expiry?

(so, I don’t have a large selection of teas.. I feel like my tasting notes are going to be very repetitive! I need more teas!)

I really enjoy this tea – enough that I keep reaching for it, and drinking multiple cups when I do. Today I’m not really getting the York Peppermint Bites taste, but instead a mostly mint taste. Second steep is just as dark as the first, but most of the flavor is gone, leaving “just” a nice rooibos.

I only bought 25g and I am coming to the end. If I buy it again, I know I will drink it.

My first genmaicha!

I just ordered a green tea at my favorite sushi place, having no idea what kind of green tea it was.
I noticed immediately the toasty rice flavour and had my suspicions it was genmaicha, so I asked the server. She didn’t know the name of it, but did know it was toasted rice green tea.

It was very good! Not too grassy, but definitely green. It was a beautiful colour green. The rice flavour was the predominant one, which was really nice.

At the bottom of the cup there was about half a teaspoon of very fine green powder. It looked like matcha powder it was so fine. No rice, though.

Regardless, I will definitely be getting some genmaicha!

threw 2 tsp into my hubby’s travel press to take with me for an early morning out. It tasted like coffee, due to hubster’s beverage of choice – not good.

The tea itself was more chamomile than I remember… I could barely discern the mint. Maybe it was overwhelmed by coffee taste/smell.

ok I do need to really add a lot of vanilla soy milk to fully enjoy chai.

steep time: 5 minutes
temperature: ~96 degrees

These were given to me by a friend after I mentioned I am a cardamom nut.

I cold-steeped three bags in 1L overnight and got a very dark amber tea. It was barely cloudy, despite being fannings.

The taste is overwhelming cardamom, too much so. It is perfumy to the point of not being aware of anything but that. Despite my love of cardamom, this is not something I would drink again, or recommend. Perhaps I’ll use the remainder for baking into a chocolate cake.

Yogi Tea make some of my favorite tea bags. And I can’t say no to licorice OR mint!

My first few sips this morning were perfect. The first note is mint, followed by licorice, and finished with a nice sweet taste. This is one of my favorite wake up teas. Unfortunately, I got busy, and it steeped too long I suppose. A lot of the sweetness and minty zip is gone.

I’m scoring this high, though, because I know it can be near perfect for my tastes.

I feel uncomfortable writing about chai, as I have practically no experience with the stuff. This is my third cup ever. Once was in an Indian restaurant (and that was amazing). The second time was with this stuff. I made it myself (didn’t follow any proper steeping techniques), I added oat milk and no sweetner, and I hated it. This time I tried vanilla soy milk (a bit too much actually), and steeped it correctly (well, as close to correctly without a thermometer) and it was really really good.

I recognize the cardamom, but beyond that, I find the flavors blend together, and are bit masked from my overabundance of soy milk. I will have to try some other chais to compare, because I am SOLD on this stuff now!

This is the last of my white peony, a friend had given me a sample. It is the only white tea I’ve had, so I can’t compare it to anything. I just threw the leaves into my travel mug, as that was my only option. (I really need something with a basket).

The leaves are darker green than I would expect based on the picture. When steeped, most of the leaves unfurled, although some stayed rolled up. It smells mostly of hay, and for the first while tasted like sweet hay (or at least, how I imagine hay tastes). The longer it steeps, the more bitter it is getting, but it’s not even close to being unbearable.

I used to think it was really creamy, which compared to my chinese green tea, it is. It’s quite thick, in a good way. I can’t really get much of a feel for the colour in my mug, but it seems quite dark, and amber. Again, it’s now been steeping about half an hour.

I will definitely get more white tea!

ETA: second steep. The water was not so hot this time around.
There is no longer any hay taste, and it is not bitter at all. The taste is very mild and “green” tasting (not green tea, just green). It is definitely thick, and maybe not so creamy as I remembered. This cup is much better than the first.

Cold steeped some overnight.

Today I can taste the mint most of all; I can’t really taste chocolate. Something new has appeared though – a fresh, leafy taste. Actually, it tastes like blueberry leaves smell. I like it!

Brewed up a quick cup because I was craving something sweet, but all I had handy was a dried cotton tea bag that I had used for the pecan tart black tea yesterday… Sooo… I shouldn’t say much about this tea just yet, especially about the colour.

But. I can say that this tea is very very tasty. The mint is definitely stronger than the chocolate. I’m not entirely sure about the chocolate, but the chocolate-esque taste comes out at the end of a sip. This reminds me a lot of York Peppermint Bites, which is pretty awesome, because I love those!

This is my second time having this tea. I enjoyed the first cup, but wasn’t paying much attention to it. So I am giving it more attention today.

Upon opening the bag, it has a very refreshing smell (which it’s supposed to!). I can smell peppermint, ginger, and fennel most of all. After a few minutes, a second smell is predominated by licorice/fennel and cloves. I did not smell cinnamon. To be honest, I don’t know what holy basil smells like, but I don’t smell anything basil-ish.

After steeping, the tea is a very clear, pale yellow. It smells somewhat medicinal, I think because it reminds me of my Traditional Medicinals “Breathe Easy” tea… so it must be the licorice.

The taste is definitely spicy, but I wouldn’t say it is overly flavorful. The taste is predominately ginger and black pepper. It is a little bit watery-tasting, but I may have been a bit skimpy with my measurement.

Made some iced tea with this; cold steeped.
For being a black tea, it is a very light yellow colour… similar to white tea.
On it’s own, I can taste the nuttiness, which is nice. But it is quite bitter.. I’ve managed to make a bitter, cold-steeped tea. But, mixed with some homemade lemonade it is very enjoyable.

I seldom drink black tea, but husband was having English Breakfast this morning so I did, too. It was steeped a liiittle too long, so was bitter. But at the top of the cup it was decent. I will give black tea another try.

Tea bag. Drank black. My low rating is mostly due to my tastes (not liking black) and the bitterness.

This peppermint tea is interesting. It’s not overly minty. It smells and tastes like pencil shavings, but this can be minimized with a very short steeping time. I continue to drink it, though. But I will not be buying it again.